1. Field of the Invention
Leisure, recreational and home-use apparatus are disclosed that have wireless capability. Hereafter such apparatus will simply be referred to as “leisure apparatus”. The leisure apparatus may have in-built capability for the so-called Bluetooth® open wireless technology standard, however, it should be appreciated that the leisure apparatus is not limited to this type of wireless technology/protocol.
2. Background and Related Art
Ice and cooler boxes are adapted to contain ice and/or other cooling media and are employed in a variety of environments and applications to keep food and beverages, etc. cool or cold.
Ice and cooler boxes that have in-built sound systems are known. Such boxes may have speakers, and sockets for connecting (e.g. “plugging-in”) portable electronic devices to the boxes, such as those devices employing the so-called MP3 digital audio encoding format (“MP3 players”). The output from the plugged-in portable electronic devices can, via internally housed electronics, be amplified and broadcast from the speakers (e.g. to provide “on-site” music). Examples of such cooler boxes are shown in e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,491 and US 2008/0031483. However, the sockets of such boxes can become inactive, fouled or damaged by weather, water, dust, dirt, sand, debris and by impact in the environments and applications in which the ice and cooler boxes are employed. Such sockets can also break up (i.e. introduce discontinuity to) the surface in which they are located.
Refrigerators are also known that receive signals from a remote antenna. Examples are shown in Chinese Patent Publication No. 101072357 and Korean Patent Publication No. 2008-0034064. CN 101072357 relates to an internet-enabled type refrigerator, and KR 2008-0034064 relates to a refrigerator having an in-built television or computer, with each refrigerator being able to receive a signal from a remote antenna.
US 2009/0071516 discloses an audio system for an outdoor umbrella in which an audio housing is externally mounted to an umbrella pole. US 2009/0268923 discloses a wireless transmission-AV system for an outdoor furniture in which a speaker unit is mounted onto a frame of the furniture, and a wireless control is electrically connected to the speaker unit for wirelessly linking an AV player with the speaker unit.
US 2009/0021654 discloses a self-contained entertainment system which, in essence, is a portable box. The document discloses that wireless technology may be implemented for one or more of the connections, but does not describe how this may be affected. Rather, in the system of US 2009/0021654, all the componentry is exposed for ease of access and use.
The above references to the background art do not constitute an admission that the art forms a part of the common general knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art. The above references are also not intended to limit the application of the leisure apparatus as disclosed herein.